Lecture-based Format Research Articles

Anesthesia machine checkout and room setup: a randomized, single-blind, comparison of two teaching modalities

Novel methods for teaching are needed to enhance the efficiency of academic anesthesia departments as well as provide approaches to learning that are aligned with current trends and advances in technology. A video was produced that taught the key elements of anesthesia machine checkout and room set up. Novice learners were randomly assigned to receive either the new video format or traditional lecture-based format for this topic during their regularly scheduled lecture series. Primary outcome was the difference in written examination score before and after teaching between the two groups. Secondary outcome was the satisfaction score of the trainees in the two groups. Forty-two students assigned to the video group and 36 students assigned to the lecture group completed the study. Students in each group similar interest in anesthesia, pre-test scores, post-test scores, and final exam scores. The median posttest to pretest difference was greater in the video groups (3.5 (3.0-5.0) vs 2.5 (2.0-3.0), for video and lecture groups respectively, p 0.002). Despite improved test scores, students reported higher satisfaction the traditional, lecture-based format (22.0 (18.0-24.0) vs 24.0 (20.0-28.0), for video and lecture groups respectively, p <0.004). Higher pre-test to post-test improvements were observed among students in the video-based teaching group, however students rated traditional, live lectures higher than newer video-based teaching.

324 A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Impact of High Fidelity Simulation versus Standard Lecture-based Training on Long Term Clinical Performance of Emergency Airway Management by Emergency Medicine Residents

The use of simulation is fast becoming a standard component of emergency medicine residency training programs. Minimal data exists demonstrating improved clinical performance in procedures and patient care after simulation training versus traditional lecture-based training. We hypothesize that high fidelity simulation training will have a beneficial measurable effect on long-term emergent airway management performance by emergency medicine residents when compared with a traditional lecture-based format.

How Blended Learning Reduces Underachievement in Higher Education: An Experience in Teaching Computer Sciences

This paper presents a blended learning approach and a study evaluating instruction in a software engineering-related course unit as part of an undergraduate engineering degree program in computing. In the past, the course unit had a lecture-based format. In view of student underachievement and the high course unit dropout rate, a distance-learning system was deployed, where students were allowed to choose between a distance-learning approach driven by a moderate constructivist instructional model or a blended-learning approach. The results of this experience are presented, with the aim of showing the effectiveness of the teaching/learning system deployed compared to the lecture-based system previously in place. The grades earned by students under the new system, following the distance-learning and blended-learning courses, are compared statistically to the grades attained in earlier years in the traditional face-to-face classroom (lecture-based) learning.

Techniques for teaching electrocardiogram interpretation: self-directed learning is less effective than a workshop or lecture

Teaching 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation to students and residents is a challenge for medical educators. To date, few studies have compared the effectiveness of different techniques used for ECG teaching. This study aimed to determine if common teaching techniques, such as those involving workshops, lectures and self-directed learning (SDL), increase medical students' ability to correctly interpret ECGs. It also aimed to compare the effectiveness of these formats. This was a prospective randomised study conducted over a 28-month period. Year 4 medical students were randomised to receive teaching in ECG interpretation using one of three teaching formats: workshop, lecture or SDL. All three formats covered the same content. Students were administered three tests: a pre-test (before teaching); a post-test (immediately after teaching), and a retention test (1 week after teaching). Each tested the same content using 25 questions worth 1 point each. A mixed-model repeated-measures analysis of variance (anova) with least squares post hoc analysis was conducted to determine if differences in test scores between the formats were statistically significant. Of the 223 students for whom data were analysed, 79 were randomised to a workshop, 82 to a lecture-based format and 62 to SDL. All three teaching formats resulted in a statistically significant improvement in individual test scores (p < 0.001). Comparison of the lecture- and workshop-based formats demonstrated no difference in test scores (marginal mean [MM] for both formats = 12.4, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 11.7-13.2]; p = 0.99). Test scores of students using SDL (MM = 10.7, 95% CI 9.8-11.5) were lower than those of students in the workshop (p = 0.003) and lecture (p = 0.002) groups. Compared with those taught using workshop- and lecture-based formats, medical students learning ECG interpretation by SDL had lower test scores.

Comparison of dental education and professional development between mainland China and North America

Different educational and professional developments within the dental field create different sets of missions, norms, and practices regarding dental diseases and their appropriate treatment. This review has addressed differences in dental education and professional development between mainland China and North America. Many factors influence the choice of model and it is very difficult to predict which model will become predominant. However, there is growing sentiment that the independent faculty model in North America is logical and superior to the model, which 'integrates' dental and medical education in mainland China. Many North America dental schools place a high priority on preclinical and clinical training in the curriculum in order to expose students to patient oral health needs and systemic dental problems much earlier than in mainland China. North America dental schools promote and embrace students self-learning skills by the use of PBL, CRL, and TRAD education methodologies and new e-based technologies and approaches whereby students learn rather than are taught. In mainland China, the traditional lecture-based format is still employed in the majority of dental schools; however, strategies to enhance students self-learning skills is increasingly utilised in most well-known Chinese dental schools. The Chinese dental education model, which treats dentistry as a sub-specialty of medicine, has brought about fundamental differences, with the dentist functioning essentially as a stomatologist. For example, China has built up a large oral and maxillofacial surgery society, and craniofacial surgery is performed to a much broader extent by Chinese dentists than by most North American counterparts. In North America, dentists engage in full-time work, attend continuing training/education programmes, belong to an association, gain legal status, and construct a code of ethics emphasising the quality of care delivered to the public. Currently, continuing dental education in North America is available through a variety of venues involving licensing authorities, universities and private programmes. The concept of professional development in mainland China is relatively new and is still considered primarily in the context of promotion or achieving a higher professional title. Mandatory continuing dental professional education requirements do not guarantee the competence of members of the profession. Today, the Chinese government and society place increasing emphasis upon the accountability of self-regulating professions. Rather than attempting to summarise the current scope of dental education and professional development between mainland China and North America, this paper hopes to enhance mutual understanding, and promote greater academic exchanges in dental education.

Web-Based Gerontology Courses: How Do They Measure Up?

This study compared Web-based and lecture-based Gerontology and Psychology of Aging courses in terms of student performance, demographic and academic characteristics of students enrolled in the courses, and extent to which these characteristics differentially predicted outcomes of learning in the two course types. Participants for this study were 289 undergraduate students who completed a Psychology of Aging or Gerontology course, taught in either a Web-based or lecture-based format. Evaluation of student performance indicated percentage of points earned in the two course types did not differ significantly. Although students in Web-based courses tended to be older and were more likely to be upperclassmen than students in lecture-based courses, student profiles did not differ in terms of gender, race, grade point average, and Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) scores. Additionally, demographic and academic variables did not differentially predict course performance. The results of this study suggest a similar market in terms of demographic and academic characteristics of students for Web-based and lecture-based gerontology courses. Moreover, the findings suggest student learning outcomes in the two course formats are comparable.

Electronic Voting in Dental Materials Education: The Impact on Students’ Attitudes and Exam Performance

Dental materials is an integral part of any undergraduate dental curriculum and is most commonly taught in a traditional didactic, lecture-based format. It suffers from the ignominy of being viewed by many as a dry, factual subject with little to excite or engage the student. In this article, the author presents the experimental use of an electronic voting (eVoting) system in an undergraduate dental materials course. The practical and aspirational aspects of its application are described. The objective was to assess the student perception of the experiment and the impact on end-of-course examination results. The eVoting system proved overwhelmingly popular with the students with 95 percent in favor of its use at the beginning of the course and 91 percent at the end. There was, however, no statistically significant impact on the results of the examination at the end of the course, when compared to the previous year's cohort of students for whom eVoting was not used. eVoting encouraged student interaction and engagement and contributed to student satisfaction but was not seen to affect the outcome measurement (end-of-course examination result).

Teaching with Lecture or Debate? Testing the Effectiveness of Traditional versus Active Learning Methods of Instruction

Lecture is, arguably, the oldest known instructional technique used in the university setting. Since it was first employed in Plato's Academy, lecture has become an indispensable part of teaching favored across the college and university curriculum. Recently, this time-honored method of instruction has come under attack for its presumed inability to foster higher order cognitive and attitudinal goals (Cashin 1985; Day 1980; Frederick 1999; Renner 1993). Critics of traditional lecture-based formats call for their replacement with active learning approaches that provide students with an opportunity to meaningfully talk, interact, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, and issues of an academic subject (Meyers and Jones 1993, 6).

Engineering Education Research Aids Instruction

Discipline-based education research seeks to marry deep knowledge of the discipline with similarly deep knowledge of learning and pedagogy (1, 2) and may encourage college and university faculty members to bring more rigor to classroom instruction. For example, the physics-based education research community has used tools such as the Force Concept Inventory (3) to determine that students taught with interactive teaching techniques developed from discipline-based education research [such as Peer Instruction (4, 5)] better understand the concepts of Newtonian physics than do students taught in a lecture-based format. Within the engineering community, the ultimate aims of such research include the creation of education programs that attract more, and more diverse, students to the study of engineering; retain more of the students who are enrolled; deepen students' understanding of engineering concepts; broaden students' appreciation of engineering's role in meeting the needs of a global society; and better prepare students for further study or professional practice. In pursuing these aims, research in engineering education looks beyond questions solely devoted to teaching, learning, and assessment; it also examines issues associated with faculty rewards (6) and the organizational dynamics of engineering departments (7, 8).

Backward Course Design: Making the End the Beginning

Backward Course Design: Making the End the Beginning

Developing Knowledge Landscapes through Project-Based Learning

The traditional civil engineering-based approach to construction engineering and management education focuses significant attention on core subjects such as scheduling, estimating, and contracts. This paper introduces an alternative approach to this education based on the concepts of project-based learning. Through the introduction of courses developed by the writers, the paper provides a foundation for changing current education approaches from a lecture-based format to a project-based format. In this format, students are challenged with open-ended problems requiring greater application of multiple engineering concepts as well as requiring interaction with outside experts from within the construction industry and related professions. An outline for a project-based learning course is presented with experiences and lessons learned from four implementations of the course. Student responses are presented to indicate the potential benefits of such an approach. This finding is further supported by the introduction of the Knowledge Landscape concept for construction education that emphasizes greater use of context, scope, and multiple intelligences in construction engineering education.

Actively and Formatively Teaching Statistics To Physician Assistant Students

INTRODUCTION Although it is unlikely that it is the opportunity to study statistics that attracts physician assistant (PA) students to study medicine, PAs need to have some understanding of the subject for reading the medical literature as well as practicing evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM needs to be taught in all PA programs regardless of the degree offered1 and statistics is an important component of EBM. A key to teaching statistics to PA students is recognizing that knowledge and a primary application of statistics is required in order to read the medical literature. Physician assistant and biostatistics educators agree that health professions students do not need to become statisticians themselves.1,2 Curricular emphasis therefore needs to be placed on interpretation, rather than on computation. Keahey and Goldgar explain, “Our goal is not to train researchers or academicians; it is to train physician assistants who can practice medicine using the most advanced resources available to uncover the best evidence that will help them care for their patients.”1 Even with statistics as a prerequisite to a master's level program, it may be necessary to reteach it as part of a research or EBM course. Statistics tends to be daunting to students, and many have a negative perception of it.3,4 In fact, a specific form of math anxiety—known as “statistics anxiety”—has been identified.3 Furthermore, instructors in PA classrooms traditionally use lecture-based teaching formats, which may not be optimal for this topic.2,3,4 Lastly, instructors are challenged to find ways to address varying levels of student recall of prior learning as well as methods to stimulate and maintain student interest in the topic. We describe the curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment activities employed at Idaho State University to teach statistics within a research/evidence-based medicine course in the first semester of the program. Our goal is to highlight the active and formative nature of assessment in this course and how it enhances the teaching of statistics. The PA program at Idaho State University is a 24-month graduate program. The research/evidencebased medicine course is offered during the first semester, but its topics are threaded throughout the curriculum, culminating in an evidencebased master’s-level case presentation. The primary objective of the course is to build a foundation in EBM. However, the course lays the groundwork for students’ success in the final project and in the program. The goal of the statistics segment of the course is for students to use their knowledge of statistics to critically evaluate medical research literature; for example, to identify what might produce a Type I error and determine the likelihood of its happening. Furthermore, and arguably of greatest import, the skills introduced in the first semester and reinforced The intent of this feature is to present a forum for PA educators to share their approaches to teaching EBM. Areas of interest might include reviews of EBM resources; mini-tutorials in areas such as statistics, epidemiology, and study design; ethical, historical, or philosophical perspectives of EBM; and discussion of practice or technological tools that enhance application of EBM. Prospective authors are encouraged to contact the feature editors to receive approval of topics in advance. Authors desiring to contribute to EvidenceBased Medicine should forward submissions to:

Delivering IS/OR curricula through distance learning

Students in fields such as information systems and operation research, need to acquire both theory-based concepts as well as 'hand-on', procedural knowledge. With the growing demand for non-traditional instruction, distance learning is increasingly seen as an important element in delivering knowledge in a cost-effective manner. While mechanisms for supporting standard lecture-based formats have been well addressed in the literature, there is much less research on systems to support laboratories, an important aspect of IS/OR education. Building on a foundation drawn from the educational psychology literature, we investigate the issues surrounding the delivery of IS/OR curricula in distance learning environments.

Plan, Do, Study, Act Model to Improve an Orientation Program

The Franciscan Health System has designed a new employee orientation program that is both interactive and thought-provoking. The program has transitioned from a predominantly lecture-based format to one that consists of group discussion, role playing, lunch with senior leaders in the organization, and the utilization of adult learning principles. This article describes the shortcomings of the previous program, gaps identified in the needs assessment, and performance improvement methodology used to enhance the program.

The contribution of hospital library services to continuing medical education.

Much of the literature relating to continuing medical education programs laments the lack of effectiveness of traditional lecture-based format, the most often used method of presentation in hospitals. A gap exists between the content taught in lectures and the application of that knowledge in actual patient care. The services of the medical librarian, already employed in most hospitals, can help ameliorate this problem. Further, libraries help to support quality improvement efforts. These three functions (library services, continuing medical education, and quality improvement) are interdependent. Each lends strength to the other, and, ideally, all are coordinated within the hospital structure.

A Two-Week Guided Inquiry Project for an Undergraduate Geomorphology Course

Use of inquiry-based projects is an effective strategy for preparing undergraduates for independent research projects as seniors and later in their professional lives. Students used to a lecture-based format must, at first, be guided through the inquiry process so they better understand what resources are available for research and how to design and conduct a research project. In geomorphology, the question, “Why do some streams braid and others meander?”, provides a focus that motivates students to learn, generates numerous hypotheses to test, lends itself to being studied through a variety of resources, and is of sufficient importance in the scientific community to warrant extended investigation within the context of a traditionally content-heavy course. Adaptation of numerous inquiry-based projects in several courses sequenced through a major, each with increasingly less guidance, can provide a way of linking a student's first inquiry experiences in introductory courses with the tools and skills necessary to complete an independent senior research project.

A course director's perspectives on problem-based learning curricula in biochemistry.

Knowledge of the applications of biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics in the practice of medicine has been and continues to be a vital part of medical students' and continuing education. The technical background and the rapid expansion of information and new applications have made it an arduous task to learn and teach this material within the already crowded medical school curriculum. Problem-based learning (PBL) formats are rapidly being adopted at all levels of education as not only a major paradigm shift in education but also a solution for the instruction of biochemistry in medical school. Designing an effective biochemistry curriculum with PBL-based or lecture-based formats requires an appreciation for their strengths and weakness. The author's experiences in the Double Helix Curriculum at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (which employs PBL cases and complementing lectures) has shown that students are excited about learning in the PBL environment and explore in depth ways of integrating biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, and molecular biology into the practice of medicine. At the same time, complementary lectures greatly enhance uniformity in the quality and, importantly, the accuracy of the students' learning.

Ambulatory Morning Report: An Underutilized Educational Modality

Background: Many medicine residency training programs include a lecture-based preclinic conference series as part of the ambulatory educational curriculum when more effective teaching formats might be available. Our institution has replaced this lecture-based teaching format with an ambulatory morning report modeled after the inpatient paradigm. This study compares the efficacy of these 2 teaching models and defines the desired characteristics of this new teaching strategy. Description: We first conducted a background study by obtaining permission to use test questions from the Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program to develop pre- and postambulatory rotation tests to validate our ambulatory curriculum. Forty-three of 44 interns completed both pre- and postambulatory block testing. The mean score on these tests improved from 67% to 81%. Although this overall improvement achieved statistical significance, test question subgroup analysis clearly indicated that the improved knowledge in test items relating to our preclinic conference topics contributed negligibly to the overall statistical improvement. As such, we ultimately replaced our preclinic conference with a morning report format. In this study, 82 residents were enrolled in a 2-year prospective observational study. This study group completed an ambulatory curriculum in which the 1st year was completely lecture based, and the 2nd year included the morning report format. We were thus able to survey residents' opinions regarding the effectiveness of the 2 very different teaching formats used in consecutive years. Evaluation: The survey results from those residents exposed to both teaching formats over 2 years revealed a high degree of satisfaction with the ambulatory morning report format. When comparing the long-term educational value, 94% of the residents found the morning report format more effective than the lecture-based preclinic conference. In addition, many desirable characteristics of the morning report also were defined. Conclusions: Lecture-based preclinic conferences might not be the most effective way of conveying information over the long term. Residents seem to prefer the more interactive morning report format. When organizing such a teaching format, attention should be directed toward the characteristics that were felt to be desirable by those we are trying to teach.

Restructuring Course Delivery for Interactive Web Instruction

As technology competencies grow, and as the need increases to engage students in creating their own learning, basic teacher education media courses need to develop alternatives to instructor-led, lecture-based formats. This paper presents the process of transforming lesson content from lecture-based format to instructional content delivered through the Web. It details the steps taken to make the Web site instructional and interactive rather than merely informational.

Problem-Based, Cooperative Learning in the Engineering Classroom

Hydraulic engineering, a junior/senior-level course, is typically taught in a lecture-based format. Lecturing as a singular teaching technique has repeatedly been shown to be ineffective. Lecturing does not advance problem-solving skills, does not require creative or critical thinking, and does not prepare students for the types of problems they will face as professional engineers. In this study, two teaching techniques, problem-based learning (PBL) and cooperative learning (CL), were used to enhance learning in the hydraulic engineering course. The goals of PBL are to provide the student with an active role in learning and to allow the student to take responsibility for learning. The goals of CL are to have students work in teams, thereby learning from both each other and the instructor, and to teach students to work together cooperatively in small groups. Methods of developing teams, projects, and other assignments were explored. The course was assessed midterm and at the end of the semester. As a result, some changes were made midsemester and other recommendations are made for the future.